Redirecting to a book website

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of the present invention provide for redirecting a user to a book&#39;s website after submitting a request for information about the book. The book&#39;s website or a link to the website may be displayed to the user on a client browser.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is related to the following concurrently-filedpatent applications:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, “TOOLS FOR REDIRECTING TO ABOOK WEBSITE.”

The subject matter of all patent applications is commonly owned andassigned to The Go Daddy Group, Inc. All prior applications areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions generally relate to the field of websites forbooks and specifically to the field of directing a researcher, customeror potential customer to a book's website using the book's ISBN, title,author, subject or other information about the book.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods and systems for directing acustomer or potential customer to a book's website. An exemplary methodmay comprise several steps including the step of electronicallyreceiving a request from a user for information about a book. Electronicreceipt of the request may then be used to redirect the user to a domainname and website for the book.

The above features and advantages of the present invention will bebetter understood from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment of a methodfor redirecting a user to a book's website.

FIG. 2 illustrates a possible system for redirecting a user to a book'swebsite.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment includingdisplaying an interface on a client for a user to input an ISBN or otherbook information and displaying the website on a client.

FIG. 4 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface for displayingthe website on a client.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment includingregistering a domain name related to the book and suggesting additionaldomain names based on the book information.

FIG. 6 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface for registeringa domain name related to the book and suggesting additional domain namesbased on the book information.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment includingdisplaying book information being researched as a link to the book'swebsite and displaying information for the book's website after thebook's purchase.

FIG. 8 illustrates a possible embodiment of an interface for displayingbook information being researched as a link to the book's website.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventions will now be discussed in detail with regard tothe attached drawing figures that were briefly described above. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forthillustrating the Applicant's best mode for practicing the invention andenabling one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention.It will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without many of these specific details. Inother instances, well-known machines, structures, and method steps havenot been described in particular detail in order to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring the present invention. Unless otherwise indicated, like partsand method steps are referred to with like reference numerals.

A network is a collection of links and nodes (e.g., multiple computersand/or other devices connected together) arranged so that informationmay be passed from one part of the network to another over multiplelinks and through various nodes. Examples of networks include theInternet, the public switched telephone network, the global Telexnetwork, computer networks (e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-areanetwork, or a wide-area network), wired networks, and wireless networks.

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networksarranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information betweencomputer users. Hundreds of millions of people around the world haveaccess to computers connected to the Internet via Internet ServiceProviders (ISPs). Content providers place multimedia information (e.g.,text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and other forms of data) atspecific locations on the Internet referred to as websites. Thecombination of all the websites and their corresponding web pages on theInternet is generally known as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply theWeb.

The Internet offers opportunities for users to research and purchasebooks online. A website may be created and maintained for informationrelating to a certain published book. This website may allow anyoneinterested in the book to find out information about the book,including, but not limited to a book summary, biographical informationabout the author, book reviews, book signings, other calendar events,blogs about the author or the book, news about related materials by theauthor which may be published soon, contact information for the authoror publisher, etc.

Additional websites on the web may allow customers, potential customers,or users researching information about the book to learn more about thebook. For example, sites such as AMAZON.COM, BARNESANDNOBLE.COM,BORDERS.COM and ISBNDB.COM may provide a customer, potential customer orresearcher additional information about the book including titles,summary, publisher, plot, characters, number of pages, priceinformation, customer reviews, similar books, related books in a series,author interviews, related websites, related subjects, websites forpurchasing the book, the book's physical description, what editions areavailable, whether the book is in stock, pre-ordering information, bookformats, customer purchasing trends, ISBN, etc.

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique numericcommercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard BookNumbering (SBN) code. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by theInternational Organization for Standardization. The ISBN is 13 digitslong if assigned after Jan. 1, 2007, and 10 digits long if assignedbefore 2007. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation (exceptreprinting) of a book. A 13 digit ISBN contains a GS1 prefix, which mayindicate the industry; for example, 978 may identify book publishing.The ISBN may also contain a group identifier, a publisher code, an itemnumber, and a checksum character or check digit. Barcodes may be foundon a book's cover and they may have a separate barcode encoding fivedigits for the currency and the recommended retail price.

A Method for Directing a Customer to a Book Website Using the Book'sISBN

Several different methods may be used to provide and manage thedisclosed invention. In an example embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, arequest for book information may be received from a user using an ISBN,title, author, subject or other information related to the book (Step100), and any combination of software modules used together with thehardware on a server in a data center may receive and process therequest and access data storage within the data center containinginformation about the book associated with the ISBN, or other bookinformation including, but not limited to, a domain name and relatedwebsite containing information about that book. (Step 110). The softwaremodules may then compare the ISBN or other book information with therelated book information from the data storage to forward or redirectthe user to the book's website (Step 120).

Several different environments may be used to accomplish the steps ofembodiments disclosed herein. FIG. 2 demonstrates a streamlined exampleof such an environment and illustrates a non-limiting example of asystem and/or structure that may be used to accomplish the methods andembodiments disclosed and described herein. Such methods may beperformed by any central processing unit (CPU) in any computing system,such as a microprocessor running on at least one server 210 and/orclient 220, and executing instructions stored (perhaps as scripts and/orsoftware, possibly as software modules) in computer-readable mediaaccessible to the CPU, such as a hard disk drive on a server 210 and/orclient 220.

The example embodiments shown and described herein exist within theframework of a network 200 and should not limit possible networkconfiguration or connectivity. Such a network 200 may comprise, asnon-limiting examples, any combination of the Internet, the publicswitched telephone network, the global Telex network, computer networks(e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-area network, or a wide-areanetwork), a wired network, a wireless network, a telephone network, acorporate network backbone or any other combination of known or laterdeveloped networks.

At least one server 210 and at least one client 220 may becommunicatively coupled to the network 200 via any method of networkconnection known in the art or developed in the future including, butnot limited to wired, wireless, modem, dial-up, satellite, cable modem,Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line(ASDL), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (ISDN), X.25, Ethernet, token ring, Fiber Distributed DataInterface (FDDI), IP over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), InfraredData Association (IrDA), wireless, WAN technologies (T1, Frame Relay),Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), and/or any combinationthereof.

The server(s) 210 and client(s) 220 (along with the software modulesdescribed herein) may be communicatively coupled to the network 200 andto each other in such as way as to allow a user to request informationabout the book, request information about domain names, register domainnames, accept ISBN numbers via barcode scanners and/or accomplish anyother methods disclosed herein.

Such server(s) 210 may comprise any computer or program that providesservices to other computers, programs, or users either in the samecomputer or over a computer network 200. As non-limiting examples, theserver 210 may comprise application, communication, mail, database,proxy, fax, file, media, web, peer-to-peer, standalone, software, orhardware servers (i.e., server computers) and may use any server formatknown in the art or developed in the future (possibly a shared hostingserver, a virtual dedicated hosting server, a dedicated hosting server,a cloud hosting solution, a grid hosting solution, or any combinationthereof) and may be used, for example to provide access to websitecontent requested by a client 220.

The server 210 may exist within a server cluster, as illustrated. Theseclusters may include a group of tightly coupled computers that worktogether so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they area single computer. The components may be connected to each other throughfast local area networks which may improve performance and/oravailability over that provided by a single computer.

The client 220 may be any computer or program that provides services toother computers, programs, or users either in the same computer or overa computer network 200. As non-limiting examples, the client 220 may bean application, communication, mail, database, proxy, fax, file, media,web, peer-to-peer, or standalone computer, cell phone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), etc. which may contain an operating system, a full filesystem, a plurality of other necessary utilities or applications or anycombination thereof on the client 220. Non limiting example programmingenvironments for client applications may include JavaScript/AJAX (clientside automation), ASP, JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP, HTMLpages or rich media like Flash, Flex or Silverlight.

The client 220 that may be used to connect to the network 200 to use theillustrated embodiments may include, but are not limited to, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a hand held computer, a terminal, atelevision, a television set top box, a cellular phone, a wirelessphone, a wireless hand held device, an Internet access device, a richclient, thin client, or any other client functional with a client/servercomputing architecture. Client software may be used for authenticatedremote access to a hosting computer or server. These may be, but are notlimited to being accessed by a remote desktop program and/or a webbrowser, as are known in the art.

The client 220 may also include any machine capable of receiving anISBN, or any other request related to the book from the user.Non-limiting examples of such machines may include a client terminal ata library, where a user may be researching information about a book, aclient computer used to research information about available domainnames relating to the ISBN or book generally, a scanning machine at abook reseller or library used to check the price or other information(possibly via a bar code or other scan able data) about the book via theISBN, a client terminal at a bookstore used to look up price and otherinformation about the book (possibly communicatively coupled to ascanning machine), etc. The ISBN or any other book information, inshort, may be accepted using any machine or scanner capable of receivingthe ISBN or other book information and forwarding the relatedinformation to the client 220, server 210 and/or data storage 230 in thedata center 240.

The user interface displayed on the client 220 or the server 210 may beany graphical, textual, scanned and/or auditory information a computerprogram presents to the user, and the control sequences such askeystrokes, movements of the computer mouse, selections with a touchscreen, scanned information etc. used to control the program. Examplesof such interfaces include any known or later developed combination ofGraphical User Interfaces (GUI) or Web-based user interfaces as seen inand after FIG. 4, Touch interfaces, Conversational Interface Agents,Live User Interfaces (LUI), Command line interfaces, Noncommand userinterfaces, Object-oriented User Interfaces (OOUI) or Voice userinterfaces. The ISBN or any other information, may be accepted using anyfield, widget and/or control used in such interfaces, including but notlimited to a text-box, text field, button, hyper-link, list, drop-downlist, check-box, radio button, data grid, icon, graphical image,embedded link, etc.

The server 210 may be communicatively coupled to data storage 230 ofbook information, domain registration information, or any otherinformation requested. The data storage 230 may be any computercomponents, devices, and/or recording media that may retain digital dataused for computing for some interval of time. The storage may be capableof retaining stored content for the books, domain names, websites or anyother data requested, on a single machine or in a cluster of computersover the network 300, in separate memory areas of the same machine suchas different hard drives, or in separate partitions within the same harddrive, such as a database partition.

Non-limiting examples of the data storage 230 may include, but is notlimited to, a Network Area Storage, (“NAS”), which may be aself-contained file level computer data storage connected to andsupplying a computer network with file-based data storage services. Thestorage subsystem may also be a Storage Area Network (“SAN”—anarchitecture to attach remote computer storage devices to servers insuch a way that the devices appear as locally attached), an NAS-SANhybrid, any other means of central/shared storage now known or laterdeveloped or any combination thereof.

The server(s) 210 or software modules within the server(s) 210 may usequery languages such as MSSQL or MySQL to retrieve the content from thedata storage 230. Server-side scripting languages such as ASP, PHP,CGI/Perl, proprietary scripting software/modules/components etc. may beused to process the retrieved data. The retrieved data may be analyzedin order to determine the actions to be taken by the scripting language,such as determining whether a website exists for the book, whether adomain name is available for variations on the book title, whetherdomain names are available for variations on the ISBN etc.

In the context of the current invention, the client 220 may requestinformation about the book and this request may be routed to theserver(s) 210. The server may also contain one or more software modulesused to process the request, access the data storage and forward orredirect the request for information about the ISBN, title, author,subject of the book to the book's website, based on information gleanedfrom the request and database of book information.

This redirection may be accomplished by server-side or client-sideredirection, possibly using URL redirection services (an informationmanagement system, which provides an internet link that redirects usersto the desired content), a manual redirect, HTTP refresh header, arefresh meta tag (which instructs the web browser to automaticallyrefresh the current web page after a given time interval), using an HTMLmeta element, change to a status code or customized HTTP headers addedto a script (using such languages as ASP, PHP or JavaScript), frameredirects, redirect loops, any other means of redirection now known orlater developed in the art, or any combination thereof.

Redirection may induce the browser to go to another location. This mayinclude the URL of the redirect target to be given in the “Location:header” of the HTTP response. The location header may contain adifferent URL or URI. For example, in ASP, a user may use aresponse.redirect command or in PHP, a header (“Location:http://www.example.com”); command may be used. The HTTP header redirectsmay also include a direct link to the destination.

FIG. 3 shows that the illustrated embodiment, as well as other disclosedembodiments, may include the step of displaying an interface on a client220 for the user to input the ISBN or other book information, such astitle, author or subject, to request more information about the book(Step 300). In one embodiment, this information may be input viascanning an ISBN for a book into a scanning machine. This bookinformation may be analyzed and compared to the information contained inthe data storage 230, and if a significant match is found, may be usedto forward or redirect the user to the book's website. This website,including information about the book, may then be displayed on theclient 220 to the user (Step 310). In other embodiments, thisinformation may be displayed on a price check machine or a receipt afterthe purchase of the book.

FIG. 4 shows an example interface using the disclosed structure that maybe used for displaying an interface on a client 220 for the user toinput the ISBN or other book information, such as title, author,subject, etc. (Step 300, not shown in FIG. 4), which may be used toforward or redirect, and then display the book's website to the user(Step 310). In this example, the website is for a fictitious book,“First Book.” This webpage, and/or the interface for entering therequested information for the book (not shown) may be displayed as awebsite on a client browser using the structure disclosed herein, andmay be used in disclosed embodiments to demonstrate a web page that maybe displayed to the user after the book information has been requestedand received from the user.

For example, a user may buy a book, find the ISBN on the inside or backcover, then look up the book's website by entering the ISBN (or otherinformation including title, author, subject, etc.) into an interfacedisplayed on a client 220 (Step 300). In another embodiment, a user mayalso have found the ISBN, for example, on a book reseller's website, ona marquee in a reseller's bookstore, from a library search for relatedtopics, etc. The user may then have searched the ISBN, title, author,subject etc. relating to the book using the disclosed interface (Step300), entered the relevant information into the interface, and beenredirected to the website to see if they want to buy the book (Step310).

FIG. 5 shows that the illustrated embodiment, as well as other disclosedembodiments, may include the step of registering a domain name relatedto the ISBN, title, author, subject or other book information utilizinga registrar's server 210, data storage 230 and/or any related hardwareor software in a registrar's data center 250 (Step 500).

The environment seen in FIG. 2 may be used to access information aboutone or more available domain names using data and processes on orcommunicatively coupled to a registrar's server 210 and data storage 230in a registrar's data center 250. The servers 210, data storage 230and/or any software modules contained in the data center 240 orregistrar's data center 250 may be linked and/or synchronized so that,as a non-limiting example, the data, software and/or hardware for thebook's website in the data center 240 may allow the data, softwareand/or hardware in the registrar's data center 250 to determine ifdomain names are available for variations on information related to thebook, including the book's ISBN, title, author, subject, etc., and thesteps, data and processes needed to redirect any new domain names to theoriginal domain name and/or website for the book.

If such book-related domain names are available, the data, softwareand/or hardware in the registrar's data center 250 may be used to informthe user of the available domain names, redirect any relevant domainnames to the original book website and forward the relevant bookinformation from the data storage 230 to be displayed to the user, whichmay include any registrant, potential registrant, customer, potentialcustomer or researcher. The book information and domain name informationmay be freely transferred between the data, hardware and/or software ofeither the data center 240 or the registrar's data center 250.

The software modules used in the context of the current invention may bestored in the memory of—and run on—at least one server 210. As anon-limiting example of such software modules, a domain nameregistration module may be used to register domain names. If the domainname is available, the domain name registration module may register thedomain name to the user as a registrant. The software modules maycomprise software and/or scripts containing instructions that, whenexecuted by a microprocessor on a server 210 or client 220, cause themicroprocessor to accomplish the purpose of the module, in this exampleto register a domain name to a registrant, if available.

This domain name registration module may comprise any domain nameregistration system known in the art or developed in the futureincluding, but not limited to, a website-enabled domain name purchaseand registration system, such as that described in detail above and/ormay be available on GODADDY.COM's website.

A domain name may be registered to a registrant (perhaps by one of theabove-described servers 210) by any domain name registration methodknown in the art or developed in the future, perhaps via awebsite-enabled domain name purchase and registration system.Alternatively, domain name registration may be accomplished via human tohuman communication, perhaps via a telephone call or in-person meeting.Domain names may be registered by, as non-limiting examples, anyindividual or entity including, but not limited to a domain nameregistry, domain name registrar, hosting provider, and/or softwareapplication developer or distributor.

The registrant (as well as users of this system generally) may comprise,as a non-limiting example, any individual or entity including, but notlimited to, a person, a business, a governmental institution, aneducational institution, a non-profit organization, or a socialorganization.

A hosted website may be associated with a domain name. In a non-limitingexample embodiment, a domain name registrar which provides domain nameservices (as well as the administrator of the book's website hosted inthe data center 240, or the data center 240, registrar's data center250, or any other disclosed data center generally) may also providehosting services for the hosted website including, but not limited tohosting one or more computers or servers in a data centers 240,250 aswell as providing the general infrastructure necessary to offer hostingservices to Internet users including hardware, software, Internet websites, hosting servers, and electronic communication means necessary toconnect multiple computers and/or servers to the Internet or any othernetwork 200.

The illustrated embodiments place no limitation on the format the domainname may take. While future iterations of the DNS may establishalternate domain name formats (perhaps using different alphanumericstructures or file types such as image, audio, or video filesfunctioning as a domain name or a similarly-functioning resourcelocator), which are explicitly contemplated by this patent application,the traditional domain name structure comprises a root name (i.e.,“mycompany” in the domain name mycompany.com) concatenated to atop-level domain (i.e., “.com” in the domain name mycompany.com).

Likewise, the disclosed limitations place no limitations on the form theISBN, title, author and/or subject-related domain names may take. Forexample ISBN-10: 2345678901 could be registered by any variation on thatISBN including ISBN-102345678901.com, ISBN-10-2345678901.net,10_(—)2345678901.info, etc. As another example, the Author'sbiographical information may be recommended to the author, using a .medomain name.

FIG. 6 shows an example interface using the disclosed structure that maybe used for registering a domain name related to the ISBN, title, authorand/or other book information using a registrar's server 210 in aregistrar's data center 250 (Step 500). For example, a user may haveregistered one or more domain names, including 10-2345678901.com,firstbook.us and johndoe.me.

Using the synchronized and/or linked information from the data, softwareand/or hardware in the data center 240, the data, software and/orhardware in the registrar's data center 250 may determine that theseregistered domain names correspond with information for a website,firstbook.com, for the book “First Book.” The user may be informed thatthese registered domain names correspond to the book and website, andallow the user to decide whether the recently registered domain namesshould be forwarded or redirected to First Book's website.

In the example embodiment in FIG. 6, the user may confirm that they areassociated with the book as an author or publisher, for example. Theuser may then select, via checkboxes in this example, the domain namesto be forwarded or redirected to firstbook.com. In this example, theuser has selected all three registered domain names, 10-2345678901.com,firstbook.us and johndoe.me.

A redirect or forward command may then be implemented, possibly using awebsite redirection software module that allows these recentlyregistered domain names to be forwarded to the book's domain name andwebsite, in this case firstbook.com, thereby including ISBN, title andauthor-related domain names to be forwarded. No limitation should beplaced on the types of top-level domain names (TLD) that can beforwarded, or suggested (described below). For example, any bookinformation that includes a .net, .us, .me, etc. TLD may use a redirectcommand to forward the user to the webpage for the book (which may alsobe a website using a domain name with any of these TLD's).

In other embodiments (not shown), the user may use the interface toconfigure the data, software and hardware used to automatically forwardor redirect any future related domain names to the book's website. Forexample, if the user were to select this option, the domain namesfirstbook.mobi and johndoe.info, seen in FIG. 6 would be automaticallyredirected to firstbook.com as soon as they were registered. In allembodiments, when a new domain name is registered, an email may be sentto the registrant to inform them that the domain name has beenregistered, that the domain name has been associated with the bookand/or to inform them of any forwards or redirects associated with thenew domain name.

The non-limiting embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 shows an activewebsite for the book, firstbook.com. Because the website is active, oneor more links to the site may be provided, as shown (possibly by aredirect to the site or opening another popup window, according totechniques known in the art), and options may be given for recentlyregistered and recommended domain names to redirect to this site.

Whether or not the site is active may be determined by an attemptedredirect to or “pinging” of the site. Pinging the site is a computernetwork tool used to test whether a particular host is reachable acrossan IP network. Pinging may also be used to self test the networkinterface card of the computer, or as a latency test. Such redirectionor pinging of a site and/or various domain names related to the site mayallow the registrar to know when the book's website becomes active,thereby allowing the linking, redirecting and notice described in detailabove.

If the redirection or pinging of the site (in this case firstbook.com)determines that the website is active, the author may confirm that theyare associated with the book, open the site using provided links and/orselect suggested related available domain names as described elsewherein this specification.

However, if the redirection or pinging of the site determines that thesite is not active, another embodiment may include the step ofrecommending a domain name related to the title (such as firstbook.com),if a domain name related to the title cannot be found. This may bebecome the primary or “anchor” domain name and website that all otherregistered domain names may be redirected to, and appropriate user inputmay be provided within the interface to allow the user to distinguishwhich will be the primary domain name or website.

In another embodiment, the registrant may be informed that the domainname has been registered, the domain name is associated with the bookand/or to inform them of any forwards or redirects associated with thenew domain name via an email (or any other notification method known inthe art) as previously described or via an announcement on a socialwebsite. This may require a partnership between the host of the book'swebsite, the domain name registrar and the one or more social websitesinvolved.

A social networking data center (not shown) may likewise host theinformation needed for administration of a social networking website,including the general hosting infrastructure described above. The socialnetworking data center may include any of the functionality found in thedata center 240 or registrar's data center 250 disclosed elsewhere inthis specification, including the ability to link or synchronize thedata and functionality found in the other data centers 240, 250. Suchsocial networking data centers may accept messages from text messages,SMS, web, mobile web, instant message, third party API projects or otherthird party applications, or possibly from the data, software orhardware in the data center 240 or registrar's data center 250.

FIG. 5 shows that the illustrated embodiment, as well as other disclosedembodiments, may include the step of suggesting or recommending a domainname related to the ISBN, title, author and/or other informationrelating to the book using a registrar's server in a registrar's datacenter based on the book's related information (Step 510).

FIG. 6 shows an example interface using the disclosed structure that maybe used for suggesting or recommending a domain name related to theISBN, title, author and/or other information relating to the book usinga registrar's server in a registrar's data center based on the book'srelated information from a link to the data, hardware and software inthe data center 240 (Step 510). For example, the user who registered10-2345678901.com, firstbook.us and johndoe.me may not be aware ofadditional domain names available, but may want to be offered options toregister these domain names.

The user may be informed that these registered domain names correspondto the book and website, and, using information, keywords, or any otherdomain name suggestion methods known in the art, and may be offeredsuggestions for and be allowed to select additional domain names thatmay be related to the book's ISBN, title, author, subject, keywords andor additional information relating to the book. In this example, thedomain names 10-2345678901.net, firstbook.mobi and johndoe.info havebeen suggested to the user, who has selected firstbook.mobi andjohndoe.info as additional possible domain names to be registered andpossibly forwarded or redirected to the website firstbook.com. Thisforwarding or redirection may be automatic as disclosed above. Inaddition, if a suggested domain name is too long because the title ofthe book is too long for a reasonable domain name, additional domainnames, such as a recommend ISBN number-related domain name and websitemay be suggested instead.

In another embodiment, the data center 240 which hosts and storesinformation regarding the book's website, as well as the registrar datacenter 250 may utilize the data storage 230, servers 210 and any relatedsoftware modules to recognize the input of information that identifies anew book, an ISBN registered for a new book through the appropriate ISBNregistration authority (possibly the International Organization forStandardization or ISO), or some other third party which may have accessto this information, or any other information that may identify the newbook.

This and other embodiments may include recommending a domain name and/orwebsite related to the book to the users associated with the book whenthe book is assigned an ISBN. In order to accomplish this, a partnershipmay need to be established with the appropriate authority used to assignISBNs, possibly the ISO, or some other third party which may have accessto this information, and be able to give notice when an ISBN isassigned. This authority or third party may also have a data center (notshown) which may have any of the characteristics disclosed relating tothe data center 240 or the registrar's data center 250.

When the ISBN is assigned to the book, a notice or any other requireddata may be sent from such a data center for the authority or thirdparty to the data storage 230, or other hardware or software in the datacenter 240 or registrar's data center 250, and linked and/orsynchronized as necessary. A domain name based on ISBN, title, author,subject or other information may then be recommended to the author,publisher or other users associated with the book, based on availabledomain names as described above.

This may be an automatic step, and/or may require a search of the datasources 230 in the registrar data center 250, or authority and/or thirdparty's data center which in turn may require some type of partnershipbetween the registrar and the authority or some other third party whichmay have access to this information.

In another embodiment, an especially popular book may be generating alot of traffic or searches using one or more search engines, as areknown in the art. These searches may be used to recognize a high amountof traffic or searches in a search engine for a certain book title,author information, subject information, etc. and trends related tothese searches. Using the data, hardware and software modules in thedata center 240 and registrar's data center 250, the information fromthese most popular searches may be collected (possibly from data in adata center for the search engine (not shown) with any of thecharacteristics disclosed relating to the data center 240 andregistrar's data center 250) and used to determine that a domain namefor the book information is available and to recommend domain names tothe user using techniques disclosed elsewhere in this application.

FIG. 7 shows that the illustrated embodiment, as well as other disclosedembodiments, may include the step of partnering with a third party usedto sell, provide, search or research books or book information, such asAMAZON.COM, BARNESANDNOBLE.COM, BORDERS.COM, ISBNDB.COM, SIRSIDYNIX,etc. Utilizing these partnerships, the website or software for thesethird parties may create and display an automatic link to the book'swebsite where the ISBN or other book information is being researched andis listed on the third party website. (Step 700). In other words, theinformation for the book may be used to turn the ISBN, title, author,subject or other book information on the website into a link, allowingthe user to augment their research of information relating to the bookby accessing the book's website.

A data center for the third party (not shown) may likewise host theinformation needed for administration of the third party website orsoftware. This data center may include the general data, server andhosting infrastructure described above. The third party data center mayinclude any of the functionality found in the data center 240 orregistrar's data center 250 disclosed elsewhere in this specification,including the ability to link and/or synchronize information between thedata center 240, the registrar's data center 250, the third party's datacenter (not shown) or any other data center.

FIG. 8 shows an example interface using the disclosed structure that maybe used for partnering with a third party to create and display anautomatic link to the book's website where the ISBN or other bookinformation is being researched and is listed on the third partywebsite. (Step 700). For example, in one embodiment, a user may go to awebsite such as AMAZON.COM, BORDERS.COM, BARNESANDNOBLE.COM orISBNDB.COM to learn more about or to purchase a book, or may be usingsoftware from or distributed by a library research company such asSIRSIDYNIX to further research a book that is of interest to them.

A user may search a book (“First Book” in this example), using it'sISBN, title, author, subject, etc. and the search results may bedisplayed to the user, possibly sorted by title, ISBN, author, etc.Through the partnership established with the third party website orsoftware company, the information from the data storage 230 in the datacenter 240 may be used to create a link within the search resultsallowing the user to be redirected from the third party website orsoftware to the book's website.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the user, after searching for “FirstBook” may be provided with information divided into related titles,authors, ISBN, subject etc. Within these search results, the relevantsubsection may include a link to relevant information on the book'swebsite. In this case, a link is provided in the “Titles” portion whichmay forward or redirect the user to the relevant part of First Book'swebsite dealing with the title. Likewise, the ISBN may be highlighted inthe ISBN section, and a link created to allow the user to learn moreabout the book using the ISBN. Finally (but not by way of limitation), alink may be provided in the “Authors” section allowing the user to beredirected to the appropriate portion of the First Book's website tolearn more about John Doe, the author.

These links may allow the user to be forwarded or redirected to thewebsite, but in another embodiment, the link may include a popup windowto the site, or may include a link from the retrieved information thatwould either redirect to the website, or open a popup window for thebook's website. These links may be directed to the original site or anyof the redirected domain names discussed in detail above.

No limitations should be placed on the type of third party websites thatcan be used in such a partnership. For example, the website may be for areseller, such as AMAZON.COM, BARNESANDNOBLE.COM or BORDERS.COM, couldbe a database of book information such as ISBNDB.COM, or may be softwareused to search or research books in a library, such as SIRSIDYNIX wherethe user is searching the book, by any of the available criteria, suchas title, author, subject ISBN, etc.

A link may also be included for additional multimedia information. Forexample, if a movie by the same name, based on the book, is available atthat library, a link may also be included for that particular piece ofmultimedia. DVD's, audio books, etc. may also be included.

In another embodiment, the link displayed to the user may be in responseto the user scanning a bar code associated with the ISBN or enteringbook information into an interface in a bookstore or library. Forexample, a user may scan the barcode for the book, either looking formore information about the book, or seeking a price check for the bookat a “brick and mortar” type store such as Barnes and Noble or Borders.When the information displays after scanning this barcode, variousactions could be taken to allow the user to access information on thebook's website.

As non-limiting examples, a simple scanning machine may display amessage such as “see www.firstbook.com for more information about thebook” or “see www.10-2345678901.com for more information about thebook.” This information may also be included on the receipt, eitherelectronic or in paper form, or in a follow up email when the book ispurchased, thereby allowing the user to learn more about the book theyhave purchased.

Other embodiments may include a scanner connected to a computerterminal, in which case, either a link could be provided within thedesired scanned information, or the website may be displayed uponscanning the book. In addition, the price check may also includeinformation about the reseller, or be redirected to the reseller's pagefor information about the book, with the link for the book's websiteavailable from the reseller's page.

Finally, the information about the book may be emailed to the customerif they are a regular customer of the reseller (where their informationwould be stored in a database maintained by the reseller), or they mayenter their information for email, fax, SMS etc. information afterscanning the book to have information forwarded, emailed, texted, etc.to them.

The additional steps included in the embodiments illustrated in FIGS.1-8 are not limited to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and may becombined in several different orders and modified within multiple otherembodiments.

Other embodiments and uses of the above inventions will be apparent tothose having ordinary skill in the art upon consideration of thespecification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. Thespecification and examples given should be considered exemplary only,and it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover any othersuch embodiments or modifications as fall within the true scope of theinvention.

The Abstract accompanying this specification is provided to enable theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally todetermine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of thetechnical disclosure and in no way intended for defining, determining,or limiting the present invention or any of its embodiments.

1. A method, comprising the steps of: a) receiving from a user a requestfor information about a book, the request for information comprising anISBN for the book and requested via an interface on a clientcommunicatively coupled to a network; b) accessing a data storage withina data center via a data access software module executed on a servercommunicatively coupled to a network in the data center, the datastorage comprising a plurality of information about the book, theplurality of information comprising information about a website, and thewebsite comprising further information about the book; and c)redirecting the user to the website via a website redirection moduleusing the plurality of information.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein therequest for information about the book further comprises a title of thebook, an author of the book, a subject of the book, the ISBN for thebook or any combination thereof, and wherein the plurality ofinformation about the book further comprises the books website, thedomain name for the book's website, a title of the book, an author ofthe book, a subject of the book, the ISBN for the book or anycombination thereof.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising thestep of registering a domain name related to the ISBN for the book, thetitle of the book, the author of the book, the subject of the book, orany combination thereof.
 4. The method of claim 3 further comprising thestep of recognizing the domain name registered as related to theplurality of information about the book in the data storage.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 further comprising the step of receiving from the usera selection of one or more domain names to be redirected to the website,the one or more domain names including the domain name.
 6. The method ofclaim 4 wherein the domain name is automatically redirected to thewebsite, and the user is informed that the domain name has beenautomatically redirected.
 7. The method of claim 4 further comprisingthe step of recommending the domain name as a primary domain name forthe website if an active website for the book is not found.
 8. Themethod of claim 4 further comprising the step of recommending one ormore additional domain names related to the plurality of informationabout the book in the data storage.
 9. The method of claim 8 furthercomprising the step of receiving from the user a selection redirectingthe one or more additional domain names to the website.
 10. The methodof claim 7 wherein recommending the domain name as a primary domain nameoccurs after the book is assigned an ISBN.
 11. The method of claim 7wherein recommending the domain name as a primary domain name occurs inresponse to a trend indicating a high amount of traffic or searches inresponse to the book.
 12. The method of claim 1 further comprising thestep of partnering with a third party to create and display an automaticlink to the book's website from a listed ISBN, title, author, subject orany combination thereof.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein said thirdparty is a book-reseller website.
 14. The method of claim 12 whereinsaid third party is a distributor of library research software.
 15. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising the step of displaying a link orthe address to the book's website in response to the book being scannedfor a price check or sale of the book.
 16. The method of claim 15wherein the address to the book's website is displayed on a scanningmachine.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein the address to the book'swebsite is displayed on a receipt after the sale of the book.